On Friday’s Special Report, Charles Krauthammer slammed Obama for the “unbelievable, passive nature” of his speech, which addressed the Malaysian airliner catastrophe in Eastern Ukraine. Reacting to yesterday’s news of the shooting down of the civilian plane – almost certainly at the hands of Russian-armed rebels – the president appeared disinterested, and ”practically half asleep.” That response makes sense only if Obama believes that the events will necessarily go badly for Russia. However, Krauthammer contended, there is no reason to think that is true in the absence of American leadership.

“He’s relying on the Europeans,” Krauthammer said. “The Europeans will never act. They never act on anything unless they’re led by the U.S.”

He added, “On contaminating the site – the president, I hope he’s doing this but I doubt he is – behind the scenes organizing an objective European inspection team to go. It is Ukrainian sovereign territory. Have it land in Kiev and have the Ukrainian authorities, with NATO protection if they need, go to the site and secure it. But are they even thinking in those terms? No. The president says ‘the site has to be secured’ in the same way he said ‘Assad has to go.’ And it has the same weight: zero.”